Paint Decorated Dower Chest Dauphin County Pennsylvania

Dauphin County, Pennsylvania Paint-Decorated Dower Chest, Made for Madlen Nafzer in 1808 This colorful Pennsylvania German dower chest, with pinwheels and tiny flowers on Robin's egg blue tombstone panels, set on a salmon ground, was found with the descendents of Madlen Nafzer of Dauphin County, Pennsylvania. Passed down through her family for several generations, the chest is accompanied by a softbound book that details the history of the Nafzer family. It tells the basic story of the woman for whom the chest was made in 1808; of how her family arrived on American soil and of their subsequent moves from Pennsylvania to Ohio to Indiana with the migrating Pennsylvania Dutch Community. Past its striking color and decoration, one of the most spectacular things about this particular chest is its untouched paint surface and early condition. While a lateral portion of the left, back foot is absent, broken and lost during the family's possession, the back of the foot is present and extremely stabile. This had been broken, presumably at the same time, but the original piece was kept and I personally doweled it back into place. I made no attempt to replace the missing side portion, so that the chest could be kept in this unspoiled form, a rare thing among surviving Pennsylvania Dower chests...

Antique Americana- style North American blanket chest with hinged lid, circa 1900. Hand-painted with a stylized Federal Eagle on the front. One talon grasping arrows and the other an...